Perth man Dominic Bird, who was facing the death penalty for drug trafficking in Malaysia, is returning to Australia after being acquitted yesterday. The judge released Mr Bird after the defence successfully questioned the credibility of a rogue policeman involved in the Australian's arrest.

Transcript

TONY EASTLEY: An Australian man who was facing the death penalty for drug trafficking in Malaysia is coming home after being acquitted.

South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel reports that the judge released Dominic Bird after the defence successfully questioned the credibility of a "rogue" policeman involved in the Australian's arrest.

ZOE DANIEL: There was always a chance that the judge would rule swiftly once he'd made up his mind that there was reasonable doubt about Dominic Bird's guilt.

Still, the Australian was surprised to find himself standing free outside the court having been in jail in Malaysia since March 2012.

(To Dominic Bird)

You must be extremely relieved.

DOMINIC BIRD: Yeah, yeah definitely, definitely. Yeah. Still not over yet, we've got a couple of things to sort out with immigration, getting my visa sorted so I can get (inaudible) out of here, but yeah.

ZOE DANIEL: And were you expecting this today?

DOMINIC BIRD: No. (laughs) No.

ZOE DANIEL: What's it's been like for you sitting through all of those hearings? It must have been...

DOMINIC BIRD: Gruelling yeah, yeah it is. It's not fun because it's such a long bloody process. And you've got two weeks of quarantine from the date you go to court, quarantine's pretty restrictive and they lock you in a cell 24 hours a day. You've got no movement at all, not even for exercise or to be out in the sun. So you just get locked up in a cell with six other guys.

ZOE DANIEL: How have you been treated in the prison?

DOMINIC BIRD: I've been treated well. The conditions aren't good but I've been treated well.

ZOE DANIEL: How did you sustain yourself through all of that?

DOMINIC BIRD: You kind of just have to get used to your surroundings and keep your mind inside - that's what one of the officers told me when I first came in. And he told me that that the main secret to keeping your head straight in here is just keep your head inside the prison, not outside at home.

ZOE DANIEL: Dominic Bird was arrested in an undercover police sting and accused of attempting to sell 167 grams of methamphetamine to a police officer - enough to attract a compulsory death penalty under Malaysian law.

But his legal team, led by barrister Muhammad Shafee, called into question the credibility of the policeman who they accused of using drug money to lead a lavish lifestyle and entrapment of Mr Bird. Two weeks ago he was charged with contempt for threatening a witness.

Mr Shafee says the defence built a case around the possibility that Mr Bird was set up.

MUHAMMAD SHAFEE: In fact it attracted me to call him a rogue officer. We had an independent witness and what he said was corroborative of what Dominic said, because he said - Dominic said - he never brought the bag and that was never his plastic bag that consisted of the drugs.

The court therefore, in the light of all this contradictory evidence, held that this is not a safe case to convict.

ZOE DANIEL: Dominic Bird's visa expired in jail. Last night he was on his way to immigration to get a new one so he could fly back to Perth a free man.